Transgenic mice are widely used to model human disease, but some diseases, such as neurological disorders, are difficult to study in mice. Non-human primates are genetically and physiologically similar to humans, but the limited success of strategies to produce transgenic animals has limited their use in research. Niu et al. developed an improved method for producing transgenic rhesus monkeys by using a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)-based vector encoding enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP). The authors infected early-cleavage-stage embryos with the SIV-EGFP virus to maximize infection efficiency, obtaining ∼40% EGFP-positive embryos. EGFP-positive embryos were then implanted into segregate monkeys using advanced in vitro fertilisation techniques. Four infant monkeys were obtained, two of which expressed EGFP throughout their entire bodies. This establishes a method that could help to produce new animal models that are highly relevant for studying certain human diseases.

Niu Y, Yu Y, Bernat A, Yang S, He X, Guo X, Chen D, Chen Y, Ji S, Si W, et al.  (2010). Transgenic rhesus monkeys produced by gene transfer into early-cleavage-stage embryos using a simian immunodeficiency virus-based vector. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA [Epub ahead of print] doi: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1006563107.